You have to admit - we all like the finer things in life.  I used to live in Chapel Hill and visited A Southern Season regularly.  Now that I live in Cary I visit occasionally when I have clients in town looking at homes in Chapel Hill or if I want to spend a Southern Afternoon in Chapel Hill at one of my favorite juants.  I stopped in over the weekend and had a fantastic visit. 

I have to share the most wonderful gourmet retail store/cooking school/mail order store in the Triangle- A Southern Season. The store offers an enormous selection of gift baskets, specialty foods, wines, cheeses, coffees, teas, gourmet delicatessen foods, condiments, confections, cookware, utensils, and dinnerware. The store contains a state-of-the-art cooking school, a restaurant, and a card and flower shop. A Southern Season also offers several free daily gourmet food "tastings" to its walk-in customers.

While you're there don't forget to stop by Southern Season's renowned restaurant called The Weathervane.  Southern Season started in the mid 1970s as a coffee shop so they have a wide variety of choices when it comes to their famed coffee. 

Over the summer I attended one of the gourmet cooking classes at the state-of-the-art cooking school in the back of the store on the 2^nd floor.  My, my-- what a treat that was - and affordable too.  Southern Season's Sub-Zero/Wolf kitchen is quite impressive and rivals the likes of the kitchens on the Food Network like Iron Chef and other shows.   One of my favorite classes is the weekly wine tasting on Friday evenings from 5pm until 8pm as well. 

You don't have to live in the Carolinas to enjoy some of Southern Season's favorites.  Visit their website to learn more about their mail order baskets, North Carolina fare, and their fabulous cooking classes.